Thanks for listening to us

[KWONRYU]

In PvE

Unassembled Gear pieces are a guaranteed drop from the last boss of each Operation, with specific drops on a boss (Ex: Soa dropping chest).

Each other boss in an Operation has a chance to drop any token. Bosses that are later in an Operation have a higher chance then those early in the Op.

Turn in an Unassembled Gear piece along with Command Tokens (which come from Command Crates) to get that piece of gear.

 

What can i say!

 

Loving the upcoming changes!

[Andryah]

I chose to engage comments that continued to be negative towards the game because I'm trying to understand why the negativity is still there. To take your point further, why do the cynics choose to be negative in what was supposed to be a positive thread?

 

The main issues with Galactic Command have now more or less been addressed, yet there is a subset of forum posters who refuse to acknowledge it. I'm within my right to question why the negativity persists. My logical conclusion is that there is nothing that will make them happy and their only desire is to rain on the parade.

 

The cynics are more than welcome to counter my comments with their reasons, and I hope they will.

 

Check around... you will find I am far from negative, much less a cynic with regard to this game. In fact, I am commonly labeled a white knight around here, and attacked for looking at things objectively in the face of rhetoric and hyperbole running amuck.

 

With that in mind....

 

They addressed how to safeguard against bad results in opening crates.

 

They addressed partially how to make it easier to gear alts.

 

What they have NOT addressed is the long term grind of GC... because you still need to grind for tokens.

 

What they have NOT addressed is balancing Cxp in the various types of content such that players will play what they like rather then chase the low hanging fruit, or simply game the system with unintended play.

 

And until we see the actual economic value of the tokens from crates in terms of acquiring gear... I suggest caution against slam-dunking it as a fix. If you need so many tokens for the vendor that you still end up having to essentially do all 300 levels of GC... then they failed again. We have to wait and see on this, as they do have good rep in role playing "Lucy and the Football".

 

Some progress.. yes.. though people wanting top gear will now have to double grind for it... grind for tokens from crates and grind OPs or PvP for unassembled pieces.

 

They still have a lot of work to do before this is a smooth sailing system with GC.

Edited December 16, 2016 by Andryah

[Zhedzaban]

Its an interesting observation and one that I've also noticed.

I think that the RNG issue really highlighted and magnified the problem of having very little new repeatable content for so long, be it ops, pvp, classes, planets with dailies/rep, events, we haven't had a new event in over 3 years.

The longer you've been around the more likely a few of these will be an issue no matter what you like doing, or even if you enjoy all or most of them.

 

Bingo! Nail on head.

 

The angst all stems from the legitimate complaint that we have had no new ops or much in the way of group content. What annoys me is that they allow this to pollute their comments and opinions on every other facet of the game. So until a new raid drops, BW will never be able to do anything right.

[Andryah]

Bingo! Nail on head.

 

The angst all stems from the legitimate complaint that we have had no new ops or much in the way of group content. What annoys me is that they allow this to pollute their comments and opinions on every other facet of the game. So until a new raid drops, BW will never be able to do anything right.

 

Absolutes are a setup for failure in presenting an idea or opinion. You are being as over the top in this regard as those you are complaining about.

 

While it is true that there have been no new OPs.. and that has pissed people off.... it is ALSO true that 4.0 was a literal gravy train of OPs level gear, and with ease. So.. people have become addicted to the 4.0 method of gearing and pushback on anything that is not as simple and easy as 4.0 was. THAT is a carryover issue that has also driven many of the complaints.... as players loved the token system with OPs in 4.0 and the super easy way to gear up in PvP via comms.

 

Note that I am not condoning the over the top behaviors and views expressed by some... far from it ... just pointing out your glass house while you are throwing stones.

Edited December 16, 2016 by Andryah

[Zhedzaban]

Sure, but to have a proper discussion, I need to know what you specifically are referring to when you said:

 

This is a bold claim.

 

What were the main issues, in your estimation? What you think the main issues may not be what I think the main issues are.

 

So ... ?

 

My issues? I was unhappy with the inability to gear alts in a timely fashion and instanced pve content didn't reward enough cxp. They said they were going to increase ops and flashpoint cxp and we are getting tokens that are legacy wide to help level alts. I'm a happy little vegemite.

 

I wasn't unhappy with the rng to begin with. Blasphemous as it is, I actually enjoyed opening the crates. But now that rng is more or less removed, I'm still trying to understand what the rage is all about.

[Quraswren]

See, I'm reading through this and all I can think of is my original comment that you won't be happy unless BW mail you bis gear.

 

Then your reading comprehension skills are much to low.

 

You don't want to earn it in any way shape or form. People were happy in 4.0 because they could tick off their gear from ops bosses like a shopping list and be done in weeks.

 

Thats called planning on top of you actually had to do the content to get gear. Soemthing you seem to have conveniently forgotten. None of that gear was handed to anyone that went after it and actually beat the bosses. Earning it is just fine with me. Beating the content is the goal. Beating the content for a reward I cannot see is not interesting and the changes bw just made does not fix that except for the end boss. Whent eh problem is RNG, you don't add in more RNG.

 

IS it better than what we had with full RNG for everything? Sure it is but given the information we have, bw can just as easily screw it with if the cost of command tokens is to high. Case in point. If the RNG Gods grant you an unasssemble piece and it costs 20 command tokens along with it for one item. The best you can hope for as you run Tier 1 is 3 items out of 14. You still have to rely on RNG slot machine crate for the rest. What did that really solve when RNG crates the problem. I hope you see my point in how this could very well turn out.

 

That's not a gearing system, that's practically free loot. That is not achieving progression, that is colour by numbers.

 

I think you failed to understand what cearly content does and what free actually is. You got nothing if you were not skilled enough to do the content.

 

You are right that we don't have the exact details from BW yet, but notice I have faith they will get it right eventually but your cynicism forces you to assume that BW will 'screw it up" and "screw us over".

 

I might have had faith years ago in bw but we went years with little to no new content. We had to listen to crap about bugs they never got to or waited months. We went F2P faster than any other game in history save one I can think of due to bad design they didn't seem to learn from. We had to listen to never again will you go that long without OPS and how complicated the crystals were and now bw drops a perfectly good loot system that could have been adjusted to GC and controlled gear distribution and never touched RNG slot machine crates but what did bw do?

 

They went with the massive grind of GC, the RNG crates and the hindrance of alt play and just as gamers tell them it sucks they add back in a more convoluted system than crystals we had in some poor attempt to placate gamers as they add in some more RNG options and only limited choice for your efforts no matter what content you clear.

 

There is a clear reason why I lean to the side in which bw will screw over the gamers. They set the precedence.

Edited December 17, 2016 by Quraswren

[Mowermanx]

Absolutes are a setup for failure in presenting an idea or opinion. You are being as over the top in this regard as those you are complaining about.

 

While it is true that there have been no new OPs.. and that has pissed people off.... it is ALSO true that 4.0 was a literal gravy train of OPs level gear, and with ease. So.. people have become addicted to the 4.0 method of gearing and pushback on anything that is not as simple and easy as 4.0 was. THAT is a carryover issue that has also driven many of the complaints.... as players loved the token system with OPs in 4.0 and the super easy way to gear up in PvP via comms.

 

Note that I am not condoning the over the top behaviors and views expressed by some... far from it ... just pointing out your glass house while you are throwing stones.

 

While its easier to say 4.0 to relate to what I agree was a ridiculous gearing method, it was only one single issue within 4.0, Priority Ops, priority ops basically meant having a vendor you pressed a button on and out popped gear.

 

Also of some silly interest, was In the 5.0 patch notes, they mentioned the removal of priority ops, which was a really redundant thing to add as no gear dropped anyway, but I suppose it will come into play with the upcoming changes now.

Maybe the person writing the notes back then knew something we all didnt?

[Zhedzaban]

Check around... you will find I am far from negative, much less a cynic with regard to this game. In fact, I am commonly labeled a white knight around here, and attacked for looking at things objectively in the face of rhetoric and hyperbole running amuck.

 

With that in mind....

 

They addressed how to safeguard against bad results in opening crates.

 

They addressed partially how to make it easier to gear alts.

 

What they have NOT addressed is the long term grind of GC... because you still need to grind for tokens.

 

What they have NOT addressed is balancing Cxp in the various types of content such that players will play what they like rather then chase the low hanging fruit, or simply game the system with unintended play.

 

And until we see the actual economic value of the tokens from crates in terms of acquiring gear... I suggest caution against slam-dunking it as a fix. If you need so many tokens for the vendor that you still end up having to essentially do all 300 levels of GC... then they failed again. We have to wait and see on this, as they do have good rep in role playing "Lucy and the Football".

 

Some progress.. yes.. though people wanting top gear will now have to double grind for it... grind for tokens from crates and grind OPs or PvP for unassembled pieces.

 

They still have a lot of work to do before this is a smooth sailing system with GC.

 

You are shifting goal posts here.

 

The issue was rng, how everybody hated it and people were unlucky and it was unfair. By changing to a token system with guaranteed drops the rng elements is now gone. If you want to have a debate over how long it takes to get enough tokens we can discuss that when we get more info.

 

The primary issue has been addressed though, and that is what should be acknowledged.

[Khevar]

My issues? I was unhappy with the inability to gear alts in a timely fashion and instanced pve content didn't reward enough cxp.

Were there any specific announcements in the stream about changing CXP?

 

As it stands right now, one can breeze through E-Z content (such as the "Fractured" Uprising) and make a ton of CXP, with more challenging content not rewarding a comparable increase in CXP.

They said they were going to increase ops and flashpoint cxp and we are getting tokens that are legacy wide to help level alts. I'm a happy little vegemite.

I am also pleased that it's easier to gear up alts.

I wasn't unhappy with the rng to begin with. Blasphemous as it is, I actually enjoyed opening the crates.

At first I enjoyed opening the crates. But I certainly didn't enjoy not getting desirable gear from it. The greens are 228 rating, and are worse than crafted 228s. The blues are 230 rating, but use lettered mods so are only slightly better than crafted 228s. I didn't get any purple gear.

 

And so, the more I played, the less I liked opening the crates.

But now that rng is more or less removed, I'm still trying to understand what the rage is all about.

Are you REALLY trying to understand? Because the tone of your posts indicate you're more interested in simply criticizing the criticizers.

Edited December 16, 2016 by Khevar

[Andryah]

You are shifting goal posts here.

 

The issue was rng, how everybody hated it and people were unlucky and it was unfair. By changing to a token system with guaranteed drops the rng elements is now gone. If you want to have a debate over how long it takes to get enough tokens we can discuss that when we get more info.

 

The primary issue has been addressed though, and that is what should be acknowledged.

 

I am shifting nothing. the objection to "RNG" was always a red herring in the complaint memes. The real issue was not RNG... but the fact that people believed (based on seeing prior RNG for loot systems) they were doomed to not get what they wanted... period. Which by the way is a loot table issue... as RNG is simply a variable in a look-up routine in a loot table that tells the routine which line item in the table to pull. And since not all entries in the table are equal.. the really good stuff has much lower drop rates. A richer loot table, and seeing it play out in the first week, would have allayed a lot of fears about "RNG".

 

And NO.. the primary issue remains..... it is a long *** grind through GC... and people loathe it.....even when they are getting lucky pulls from the loot table. Except they just doubled down on the grind, while providing a vendor based safeguard.... as they now HAVE to grind GC for crates for tokens AND they have grind OPs or PvP for unassembled gear pieces. Once players see the number of tokens required and do the math... they will be right back in the forum raging and demanding changes. And RNG is still very much present... and in two tracks now instead of one.

 

More fixes are needed, and needed early on.. to make GC a stable platform that most players will embrace, even though it still means work.

 

My impression is the studio has calculated how long on average they want a player to play GC before they have everything they want/need. They are changing the variables, and putting in a safeguard, but I bet they have not changed the number of hours on average they expect/want a player to play to reach their personal completion state with GC. People simply have not woken up and embraced the reality yet.

 

None of which invalidates the issues you pointed to... I am simply disagreeing with your absolute declaration as to what THE issue was, pretending there was only one issue ... as there were, and remain, a number of issues with GC, before it is working reasonably for most players.

Edited December 16, 2016 by Andryah

[eartharioch]

Paying ... with tokens ... obtained through gameplay ... and not with dollars or euros or other real world money ...

 

Is Pay to Win to you?

 

Gear will require tokens obtained through gameplay *and* Command Crate Box Tops (or whatever they call them), and you can pay to get 25% more Box Tops, so that element of P2W is still present. *How* much of an issue it is will depend on how many Box Tops are required, but IMO, any number > 0 is P2W.

[Zhedzaban]

Are you REALLY trying to understand? Because the tone of your posts indicate you're more interested in simply criticizing the criticizers.

 

Yes, I am genuinely trying to understand why people are angry even after the rng is removed. There has to be a reason for the continued negativity.

 

I said in a previous post that I believed it all stems from the lack of new raids (notice I'm still using absolutes just to upset Andryah) but I also believe there is anger that gearing up is taking longer. 4.0 has a lot to answer for, the speed of gearing was stupid quick and people now expect that as the new normal. Gearing should take months not weeks, unless it is an alt.

 

If this is why people are still upset then that is fine, but keep it in the relevant threads, rather than poisoning every thread with misdirected negativity.

[eartharioch]

The greens are 228 rating, and are worse than crafted 228s. The blues are 230 rating, but use lettered mods so are only slightly better than crafted 228s. I didn't get any purple gear.

 

That's not entirely true...I haven't opened many crates yet, so I don't have a lot data points for my 5.0 gear sheet, yet, but from what I have observed, modded 228 stat gear for dps/healer is Low Endurance Armoring, A (Medium Endurance) Mod, and Low Endurance Enhancement. So the Armorings and Enhancements are equivalent to BiS crafted 228 gear (the difference being that purple crafted 228s are usable at level 68 while the green ones require level 70). Unfortunately, the static stat 228 green gear will be hard coded at LAL, so worse than crafted BiS 228 gear (LUL).

[Khevar]

Gear will require tokens obtained through gameplay *and* Command Crate Box Tops (or whatever they call them), and you can pay to get 25% more Box Tops, so that element of P2W is still present. *How* much of an issue it is will depend on how many Box Tops are required, but IMO, any number > 0 is P2W.

To be very clear, Aeristash was claiming that the RNG system released with 5.0 was "perfect", and that:

 

a. RNG loot crates were NOT pay to win.

b. Getting an unassembled gear token from ops and buying gear at the vendor WAS pay to win.

 

The CXP command boost was not a part of that person's argument.

[Khevar]

Yes, I am genuinely trying to understand why people are angry even after the rng is removed. There has to be a reason for the continued negativity.

Well, I cannot speak for others, but let me go back to your statement about the "main issues with Galactic Command".

 

In my opinion, the main issue with the Galactic Command system, is that it is an artificial mechanism designed to dramatically extend grind for the benefit of the company at the expense of fun for the player.

 

Consider this:

 

1. On the PTS, there were 100 ranks of GC. It was decided this was "too quick" and so it was extended to 300.

2. In a game as alt friendly as this one, GC ranks were determined to be character specific.

3. One has to grind a significant amount of time before having a chance of obtaining better than tier 1 gifts.

4. The Tier 1 loot table is VERY WIDE. The opportunity to obtain undesirable gear is very very high.

 

Now, in the livestream that talked about Galactic Command and it's gearing, it was explained that "gear vendors were too confusing" and "too many currencies" as the basis for this change.

 

This was pretty hard to swallow for many people. Gear vendors too complicated? Really?

 

Well, let's pretend suppose that is the case. That some significant percentage of players couldn't figure out how to gear up. Okay. Have you noticed the solution announced in today's livestream? Gear vendors! Multiple currencies! Added complexity. This new system is, frankly, even more complex than the old system.

 

To me, this pokes a hole in the theory that "gearing was too complex" as the foundation for the new system.

4.0 has a lot to answer for, the speed of gearing was stupid quick and people now expect that as the new normal.

You know how this could have been solved?

 

1. Delete Highlighted Hard Modes.

2. Put EV/KP in another tier that drops lower-quality gear.

[Zhedzaban]

I am shifting nothing. the objection to "RNG" was always a red herring in the complaint memes. The real issue was not RNG... but the fact that people believed (based on seeing prior RNG for loot systems) they were doomed to not get what they wanted... period. Which by the way is a loot table issue... as RNG is simply a variable in a look-up routine in a loot table that tells the routine which line item in the table to pull. And since not all entries in the table are equal.. the really good stuff has much lower drop rates. A richer loot table, and seeing it play out in the first week, would have allayed a lot of fears about "RNG".

 

And NO.. the primary issue remains..... it is a long *** grind through GC... and people loathe it.....even when they are getting lucky pulls from the loot table. Except they just doubled down on the grind, while providing a vendor based safeguard.... as they now HAVE to grind GC for crates for tokens AND they have grind OPs or PvP for unassembled gear pieces. Once players see the number of tokens required and do the math... they will be right back in the forum raging and demanding changes. And RNG is still very much present... and in two tracks now instead of one.

 

More fixes are needed, and needed early on.. to make GC a stable platform that most players will embrace, even though it still means work.

 

My impression is the studio has calculated how long on average they want a player to play GC before they have everything they want/need. They are changing the variables, and putting in a safeguard, but I bet they have not changed the number of hours on average they expect/want a player to play to reach their personal completion state with GC. People simply have not woken up and embraced the reality yet.

 

None of which invalidates the issues you pointed to... I am simply disagreeing with your absolute declaration as to what THE issue was, pretending there was only one issue ... as there were, and remain, a number of issues with GC, before it is working reasonably for most players.

 

"... and people loathe it....." speaking of absolutes....

 

I enjoy warzones, story and flashpoints. Each of which give me cxp. So I'm levelling my command level by doing things I enjoy, how is that grinding? I call it 'playing'. If players want to smack certain mobs all day because it's quicker then that is on them. How fast players level is within the players control, rng isn't.

 

By removing rng, gearing is now back in the hands of the players. This alleviates the grinding issue. As an aside, I've seen in other games that players won't complain too much with how long it takes to get gear as long as they can see what they need to buy it and how long it will take to get it. So even if it takes months most won't mind. BW shot themselves in the foot with 4.0 by making it way too quick and easy.

[eartharioch]

To be very clear, Aeristash was claiming that the RNG system released with 5.0 was "perfect", and that:

 

a. RNG loot crates were NOT pay to win.

b. Getting an unassembled gear token from ops and buying gear at the vendor WAS pay to win.

 

The CXP command boost was not a part of that person's argument.

 

CXP Boosts were implicitly a part of his argument (since they are part of the 5.0 release scheme) whether he mentioned it explicitly or not. His full argument now becomes:

a) Despite being able to pay $ for a 25% increase in the number of RNG crates you get, RNG loot crates are not pay to win.

b) Allowing people to buy gear with a combination of tokens obtained solely through play and Box Tops obtained from play and pay means that the new tokens are what makes this system pay-to-win.

[Zhedzaban]

Well, I cannot speak for others, but let me go back to your statement about the "main issues with Galactic Command".

 

In my opinion, the main issue with the Galactic Command system, is that it is an artificial mechanism designed to dramatically extend grind for the benefit of the company at the expense of fun for the player.

 

Consider this:

 

1. On the PTS, there were 100 ranks of GC. It was decided this was "too quick" and so it was extended to 300.

2. In a game as alt friendly as this one, GC ranks were determined to be character specific.

3. One has to grind a significant amount of time before having a chance of obtaining better than tier 1 gifts.

4. The Tier 1 loot table is VERY WIDE. The opportunity to obtain undesirable gear is very very high.

 

Now, in the livestream that talked about Galactic Command and it's gearing, it was explained that "gear vendors were too confusing" and "too many currencies" as the basis for this change.

 

This was pretty hard to swallow for many people. Gear vendors too complicated? Really?

 

Well, let's pretend suppose that is the case. That some significant percentage of players couldn't figure out how to gear up. Okay. Have you noticed the solution announced in today's livestream? Gear vendors! Multiple currencies! Added complexity. This new system is, frankly, even more complex than the old system.

 

To me, this pokes a hole in the theory that "gearing was too complex" as the foundation for the new system.

 

You know how this could have been solved?

 

1. Delete Highlighted Hard Modes.

2. Put EV/KP in another tier that drops lower-quality gear.

 

Not much here I'm disagreeing with, other than they were right to increase command from 100 to 300. Given that we have player that are already approaching 100 two weeks after launch.

 

The BW argument that the previous gearing system was to confusing was always a misnomer. All they had to do was have one crystal as a currency like the pvp comms.

[DarkSaberMaster]

Good call with the changes. I'll wait and see how it plays out though.

[Kokomah]

As I mentioned in another threat, I wish for the New Year to all you happy OP players and PvPers to have enough numbers to pay for the servers, because for casual players like me there is zero incentive to continue subbing to SWTOR.

Before 5.0 my real life and my SWTOR gaming have been working together in near perfect colaboration. I will not pay for endless RNG grinding, nor will I be forced to play OPs and PvP as the only way to get geared up. To each his own, I guess.

 

# RemoveRNG

[Zhedzaban]

As I mentioned in another threat, I wish for the New Year to all you happy OP players and PvPers to have enough numbers to pay for the servers, because for casual players like me there is zero incentive to continue subbing to SWTOR.

Before 5.0 my real life and my SWTOR gaming have been working together in near perfect colaboration. I will not pay for endless RNG grinding, nor will I be forced to play OPs and PvP as the only way to get geared up. To each his own, I guess.

 

# RemoveRNG

 

See, posts like this I just don't understand.

 

If you don't like ops or pvp, then you can quite happily play with crafted gear. In fact, there is nothing you need set gear for outside of NM ops or potentially ranked pvp. Play however you want, confident in the knowledge you have the gear you need.

 

And, as an added bonus, with the command system you now have the chance on bis set gear loot! We never had that chance before, especially if you are a solo player. Where is the downside?

[Kokomah]

See, posts like this I just don't understand.

 

If you don't like ops or pvp, then you can quite happily play with crafted gear. In fact, there is nothing you need set gear for outside of NM ops or potentially ranked pvp. Play however you want, confident in the knowledge you have the gear you need.

 

And, as an added bonus, with the command system you now have the chance on bis set gear loot! We never had that chance before, especially if you are a solo player. Where is the downside?

 

See, it is not up to you to tell in what gear I would like to play. This is the problem with elitists, you don't see any other way but yours.

Pre-5.0 it was MY CHOICE to decide at what pace I will obtain PvP, 216 or 220 gear. Now it's ONLY RNG choice. I don't like RNG to decide on my behalf.

I will not pay for RNG to decide instead of me when and after how many hours of mindless grind I will get rewards that actually may feel like progress. It was my choice pre-5.0.

Hope this clears it up.

 

#RemoveRNG

Edited December 16, 2016 by Kokomah

[AscendingSky]

CXP Boosts were implicitly a part of his argument (since they are part of the 5.0 release scheme) whether he mentioned it explicitly or not. His full argument now becomes:

a) Despite being able to pay $ for a 25% increase in the number of RNG crates you get, RNG loot crates are not pay to win.

b) Allowing people to buy gear with a combination of tokens obtained solely through play and Box Tops obtained from play and pay means that the new tokens are what makes this system pay-to-win.

 

Look, it's another denizen from Opposite Land!

[Zhedzaban]

See, it is not up to you to tell in what gear I would like to play. This is the problem with elitists, you don't see any other way but yours.

Pre-5.0 it was MY CHOICE to decide at what pace I will obtain PvP, 216 or 220 gear. Now it's ONLY RNG choice. I don't like RNG to decide on my behalf.

I will not pay for RNG to decide instead of me when and after how many hours of mindless grind I will get rewards that actually may feel like progress. It was my choice pre-5.0.

Hope this clears it up.

 

#RemoveRNG

 

Your 100% correct, it is not up to me to determine what gear you would like. You can have whatever gear you want.

 

I'm a million miles from being an elitist player, I don't like progression raiding and I've never entered a HM operation let alone NM. My thing is to play alts, only now I have the opportunity for bis gear just from command crates. I don't need it but I can now get it. I had zero chance of bis loot before, now I have a chance.

 

Why would this upset you and cause you to quit? Surely some chance is better than none. And if you enjoy warzones like I do, now we will get tokens to buy gear from a vendor like we used to.

[ChadSkywalkur]

CXP Boosts were implicitly a part of his argument (since they are part of the 5.0 release scheme) whether he mentioned it explicitly or not. His full argument now becomes:

a) Despite being able to pay $ for a 25% increase in the number of RNG crates you get, RNG loot crates are not pay to win.

b) Allowing people to buy gear with a combination of tokens obtained solely through play and Box Tops obtained from play and pay means that the new tokens are what makes this system pay-to-win.

 

My issue with calling CXP boosts pay to win is two-fold. One about the 'paying' part and one about the 'winning' part. It doesn't get much more thorough than that, I guess. The only thing I don't have a problem with is the word 'to', I mean, the only purpose it serves is being the bridge linking these two misconceptions together... then again.

 

But before I get into that, the CXP Boosts were not an implicit part of his argument. They either condemn it or reveal that his problem is with RNG, not CXP boosts.

 

So, you can't just buy the command tokens that supposedly make it p2w. (for now, "buy" will refer to buying the 25% boost, since you can't outright buy any endgame gear.) What your buying is command ranks. If what you get from that command rank is considered p2w then command tokens are p2w and so are the command crates, because both come directly from earning command ranks which is the thing that can be bought.

 

Which is NOT what was said in the quoted point A. So the only way point A could still be true is if it is the RNG that keeps it from being p2w. In which case Aeristash isn't complaining about p2w at all, but the "removal" of RNG. (removal in quotes because its not actually gone. There's just an additional method to obtaining gear.)

 

To me, It doesn't matter whether the reward is RNG or not because everyone's dealing with the same RNG. Your still paying for a 25% increase in rewards and then the RNG comes after, you still payed and received 25% more. (Which also means getting to a higher command crate tier sooner.) If you think that 25% more RNG is not a great advantage, then why spend your money on it?

 

Plus he shows the complete ridiculousness of his argument with statements like, "Where is the glory in simply buying ones prize at will?" You can't buy set pieces at will with the announced changes; a 25% boost means in the time someone else earns four command ranks, you will have gotten five. But someone else will have earned six because of skill or efficient farming or another reason and you can't just buy your way past them. It's impossible to pay your way past them. They win. and paying for CXP boosts won't help any more than the already accounted for 25% increase in CXP. So you only payed for convenience.

 

And that's just it the CXP boost is a convenience item, like the legacy unlock for decreased quick travel cooldown, or increased XP for being a sub. One is something you pay for, one is not; neither is considered p2w because they don't give you any endgame advantage, they just let you do things a bit faster, that's the key, FASTER. You can still do the same things the same way without any convenience items AND someone will probably still be faster than you because they're more skilled, farming CXP more efficiently, playing more hours, etc.

 

Another reason they're not p2w is the methods of acquiring them. The pay portion of p2w.

 

So if the boosts are p2w and your buying them from the CM with your subscription reward, does that make having a subscription p2w?

 

Or If the boosts are p2w and your buying them off the GTN with credits earned in-game, does that make - what, playing the game p2w??

 

You do realize the ridiculousness of that statement, right? So clearly the boosts are not p2w because you can get them in-game without paying. You can't buy something with money to get ahead and people are forced to also pay money to buy it or get left behind. Because they can be bought off the GTN by people just playing the game. (And paying for the game since GC is subscriber only. If any part of this system is p2w it's that you HAVE to subscribe for it.)

 

There's too many ways to EARN (indirectly by acquiring a way to buy them from various sources) CXP boosts with too little benefit to how much you will still have to do to EARN endgame gear.

 

Good call with the changes. I'll wait and see how it plays out though.

 

At least somebody gets it.